Reception salutes retiring town clerk and manager
November 12, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti
At the end of this year, Waterbury Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk retires from Waterbury’s top management post after more than 34 years. Carla Lawrence stepped down at the end of August from her elected positions of clerk and treasurer that she’s held since 2008. Photo by Andy Shepeluk
It was a sunny warm Saturday for early November but the Steele Community Room at the Waterbury Municipal Offices buzzed with activity last weekend for an open house in honor of two of the community’s top officials.
For several hours on the afternoon of Nov. 5, people filed in and out to sign guest books, sample refreshments and get a few minutes to chat with the guests of honor, Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk and former Town Clerk Carla Lawrence.
There was plenty of visiting as past and present elected officials and volunteers — and at least one former state Supreme Court justice — milled about catching up and sharing stories of their times in public service. Incoming Municipal Manager Tom Leitz and his family visited at what was the end of his first week on the job. Leitz is working as deputy manager through the end of the year when Shepeluk officially retires after more than 34 years in the top management role. He comes to the position having spent the past eight years as director of administration for the City of St. Albans.
After 19 years at the town offices, Lawrence officially stepped down from her elected positions of town clerk and treasurer at the end of August. She’s continued part-time in a similar transition with Karen Petrovic who was appointed to serve in those roles through March Town Meeting Day next year when she says she plans to run for election to those offices. Lawrence started in 2003 as the town’s part-time assistant clerk and treasurer and was first elected to the full-time positions in 2008.
The open house included some brief remarks by longtime village official and local historian P. Howard “Skip” Flanders, who serves as chair of the Board of Commissioners of the Edward Farrar Utility District. Flanders noted that Waterbury in 1968 voted to have a town manager form of local government and Shepeluk in 1988 became the town’s sixth manager.
He recounted highlights of changes the community has seen during the time Shepeluk has been manager, the most recent being recovery from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and the rebuilding of Main Street “almost without poles,” referring to the stretch of South Main Street where utility lines are buried but for one remaining overhead wire still strung from poles that will be removed in 2023.
Kidding aside, Flanders thanked Shepeluk for his service and leadership. “He leaves Waterbury with a legacy of what is most important,” Flanders said, “people’s trust and confidence in their municipal government.”
State Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, prior to his election to the House of Representatives served on the Waterbury Select Board. “Bill taught us all that we can’t please everybody all of the time and in Waterbury, that would be most of the time,” he said.
Dani Kehlmann currently is in her second year on the select board and serves as vice chair. She thanked Lawrence for being a reliable source of information on how local government works who she has grown accustomed to turning to automatically. She also said that Shepeluk’s encouragement to “be part of the change” and get involved in local government motivated her to run for office. “I can truly say that I wouldn’t have made it without your inspiration,” she said.
